Shadow's Messenger: An Aileen Travers Novel

by T. A. White

  She spun back around, her calm expression deteriorating enough to leave anger and disappointment in its place. “Is that what you think this is about?”

  “What else could it be? You made it perfectly clear what you thought when I left.”

  “Jesus, Lena. You haven’t bothered talking to me in four years.”

  “You could have reached out. I’m not the one who threw a bitch fit when I decided to become a soldier.”

  “And look how well that ended up. How did the intervention go? Your parents manage to talk you into getting help?”

  I drew back, stung. I hadn’t realized Mom reached out to her.

  Perhaps it had been a mistake coming here. I didn’t think she’d be this angry after all these years. We’d been best friends once. She’d had trouble relating to people, and her ability to say precisely the wrong thing at exactly the right time had made it difficult for her in high school and undergrad. She was so smart, with an IQ that was off the charts, and hadn’t bothered with people she thought were a waste of time. I never figured out why she started talking to me. We shouldn’t have gotten along but we did until we didn’t.

  I thought time would help bridge some of the distance that had built between us. Obviously not.

  She sighed, sounding weary. “What do you want? I know you want something. You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

  “I need your help researching something.”

  She stared at me, her eyebrows rising. “You’re kidding me.”

  Nope. That’s what I wanted.

  She laughed.

  I winced. She did not sound happy, more like disbelieving.

  “You know I wouldn’t be here unless it was important.”

  She looked down. I waited. Rushing her would just result in her snapping and throwing me out.

  “No,” she said. “I don’t think so.”

  She turned back to her desk. I waited, frozen in place. I really hadn’t thought she’d refuse.

  “Caroline,” I started. I didn’t know what to say. I sighed. There was really nothing to say. Too much time had passed. And, she’d been the one to flip out, not even trying to understand why I joined the Army. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

  I turned around.

  “Wait,” she ground out, setting her pen down with a thump. “How important?”

  I faced her. “An avalanche’s worth.”

  “You’re not going to tell me what this is about, are you?”

  I shook my head. I could try to lie, but it wouldn’t work. She’d always had a particular gift for seeing through deception. It had driven away every guy who tried to date her. She made an excellent liar though. Which had made sneaking outside after curfew easy because all of the adults trusted her innocent expression.

  “Fuck. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

  I blinked. The Caroline I knew hadn’t been much of a curser. Said it was the crutch for people who didn’t have a good command of the English language.

  “You’ll help me then?”

  “Yes. Yes. Don’t keep harping on. What exactly is it you need?”

  “I need someone who can do a little research, specifically into a soldier who died at Camp Chase during the Civil War.”

  “That’s it? That’s all that you want?”

  “Yes?” I made it a question.

  “Why not my left kidney while you’re at it? Do you know how many soldiers’ died during that time period? The records from those places were notoriously bad. Most of the men who died were buried in unmarked graves. Little if any information will have survived.”

  “Anything you can give me would be a huge help.”

  “Oh yes, because I live to help you,” she said sarcastically.

  She gathered up her manuscript and walked it over to a tub, putting it inside and carrying it to one of the shelves lining the wall.

  “Come on,” she said as she grabbed her notebook. “We’ll have to head to the third floor where they keep all the civil war books. If we’re lucky, they’ll have some of Camp Chase’s records. If not, you’d better hope they digitized that crap.”

  I followed as she strode out of the room. The college student manning the desk gave a garbled greeting that Caroline completely ignored. Seemed like this at least hadn’t changed. I gave him a commiserating look as I trailed after her. He rolled his eyes and theatrically gestured at the sky. I snorted back a laugh.

  “I heard that,” Caroline said, not bothering to look over her shoulder.

  “Do you want to at least know the name of the soldier I’m looking for?”

  She stopped. “You know it?”

  “Maybe. There are a few possibilities.”

  She considered. “It’s a place to start at least. Like I said, records from that time period are sparse and a lot of things have been lost over the years.”

  I gave her the names the draugr had given me. Maybe we’d get lucky and his name was actually one of them.

  The third floor was empty as we walked through the poorly lit halls. Half the lights were off, and the place had an air of abandonment.

  “Are we supposed to be up here?” I asked, looking around.

  “No, they close this section at ten. I’ve got special privileges due to my dissertation. If anybody asks, I’ll just refer them to my thesis professor.”

  “Ah.”

  Caroline tossed her bag onto a table and headed to a computer. Not sure what else to do, I followed.

  “How can I help?”

  Her fingers paused as they flew over the keyboard.

  “You see that couch over there?”

  I looked behind us at a sitting area, complete with a bright orange couch and comfortable looking chairs.

  “Yup.”

  “I want you to go sit on it and not talk to me for the next few hours.”

  Her fingers resumed their typing.

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  I backed away and headed for the couch. It was going to be a long night. I lay back and snuggled my head on the cushion behind me.

  My phone bit into my hip, and I dug it out. Eight missed calls and three messages. Wonder who that could be.

  I clicked into my messages and listened to Liam’s terse voice.

  “Aileen, we are at the house. Where are you? The draugr was already gone by the time we got here. Call me back.”

  That didn’t surprise me. I doubted it would return anytime soon now that I’d disturbed its feeding ground. The creature was crazy; not stupid.

  I clicked delete and played the next one.

  “This is the third check in you’ve missed, and I have yet to hear from you. Call me now.”

  I deleted the message and moved to the next.

  “Aileen.” I sat up in surprise at Brax’s voice. “I need to speak with you as soon as possible.”

  I had a feeling it had to do with the werewolf Liam said he’d lost. Brax had been pretty convinced he didn’t need my help earlier. He might just be planning to use the connection he thought I had to the crimes. It might be worth giving him a call back when I was through here.

  The last message was from Liam. It was short and to the point.

  “Call. Now.”

  I had no plans to follow his order, knowing his next step would be to yank me off the streets. I couldn’t chance that. Not when there was so much on the line.

  “You seem happy,” Caroline observed from her computer. “More like yourself.”

  I sat up, thinking over her comment. It was true that some of the general numbness I’d been feeling lately was missing, replaced by adrenaline. I was focused with a laser intensity on the problems in front of me. It was a feeling that had been absent from my life for a while now. I didn’t feel especially happy, though.

  “Why do you say that?”

  She shrugged. “Just a feeling.”

  I settled back down and fidgeted with my phone.

  “Your mom’s wrong, you know.” The keys clicked in the silence. “You d
on’t have PTSD, and I doubt you’re an alcoholic. You’re just different.”

  “Different good? Or different bad?”

  I hadn’t realized how important the question was to me until I waited with baited breath for her to pronounce her verdict. I trusted her judgement and didn’t know what I’d do if she thought something was wrong with me.

  “It’s too soon to tell.”

  I released the breath I was holding.

  “I’ve found something you can help me with,” she said abruptly. “Wait here.”

  She grabbed a cart and vanished into the stacks.

  “Okay. Guess I’ll just wait here.”

  I waited and waited, finally getting up and walking around the study area. With the lights dim and the stacks cast in shadow, the library had an air of creepiness, like it was just waiting to pick us off one by one. Give me a city back ally or warehouse any day. I didn’t know how Caroline could stand spending her evenings here.

  The creek of wheels announced Caroline’s presence long before she appeared out of the gloom. The cart was piled high with books. There must have been dozens of them.

  “What are those?” I asked, eyeing them with distaste.

  “I told you. Most of the camp’s records were never digitized. These books have parts of those records. We’ll have to go through each one to see if we can find what you’re looking for.”

  “We?”

  There was a reason I’d refused Mom’s offer to send me back to school. Spending my life looking through a bunch of dusty old books had no appeal.

  She raised one eyebrow. “You didn’t think I was going to go through all of these by myself, did you?”

  I had thought that.

  “No, of course not. That would be rude of me.”

  “Right.” The tone of her voice made it apparent she didn’t believe any of the words out of my mouth. “None of the names on the list you gave came up in my search.”

  That meant the draugr had never intended to give me its name and had no intention of letting me find its baubles. I really thought he’d given me at least one real name. Given the number of books on her cart, it would be nearly impossible finding one person in all those pages.

  “I combined some of the first and last names and had a couple hits,” Caroline continued. She slid a piece of paper with three names on them. “It’s a long shot, and of course, the original names might be in here but just haven’t been referenced yet.”

  She selected several thick books and slid them towards me. I picked one up and flipped through. Words, words and more words. This was going to take all night.

  “Start with those. I’ll find the rest of the books on the list and then help.”

  There were more. I gave the stack a disbelieving look.

  She unloaded the rest of the books and then wheeled the cart back towards the library stacks. She had a smile on her face, I realized. She was enjoying this. It made sense. She’d always gotten a perverse thrill out of a challenging project. The more difficult it was to hunt down the information, the bigger the charge she got. For all her protestations, I’d handed her the perfect task.

  I slid a chair back and seated myself, pulling the first book towards me and opening it to the first page. The going was tedious and required lots of skimming. It wasn’t long before I’d sunk into a rhythm, flipping through page after page and making notes of interesting pieces of information. Caroline joined me, the stack of books she’d gone through growing in front of her at a greater rate than mine.

  Several hours passed before the aches and pains in my back and neck forced me to sit upright. I stretched, raising my hands high and twisting back and forth. It felt like I should have a pizza or a frou frou coffee in front of me or something. College students still did that, right? I looked around. Maybe not in the library, though.

  The lights flickered overhead. Once, twice and then a third time. Caroline didn’t bother looking up from the book she was studying, the lamp she’d turned on enabled her to read despite the flickering.

  “Is that normal?”

  “Is what normal?” she asked in a distracted voice.

  The lights flickered again.

  “That. The light flickering.”

  “They’re not flickering,” she said looking up.

  They flickered again and then shut off, leaving only her lamp on.

  “That’s odd,” she said, marking her page in the book. “I don’t think this has ever happened before.”

  I touched the gun at my hip, feeling only slightly reassured by the feel of metal. Had the draugr somehow found me? I gave Caroline a worried look. If I’d thought coming to her would involve her in the crazy parts of my life, I would have stayed far away.

  “Where have you been?” an irate teenage voice asked from the shadows.

  I released the gun. As annoying as the sorcerer was, he wasn’t on the same level of threat as the draugr. Especially with that cuff still on him.

  “Whatever you’re doing to the lights, stop.”

  He sighed. The lights flicked back on. He definitely had a thing for theatrics. His grumpy teenage face glared at me from a few feet away.

  “I’ve been looking all over the city for you since last night. You were supposed to check in. This wasn’t what we agreed to when we made our deal.”

  I gave him a humorless grin. “Since I didn’t exactly agree to anything, I’d say we’re about even.”

  “Look, you fanged leech,” he started.

  I cleared my throat and nodded my head at Caroline. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to reveal more than he should.

  His gaze swung to my friend’s blond beauty and got stuck as he stared, mesmerized.

  “Friend of yours?” Caroline asked with a quirk to her lips.

  “No.”

  “Yes,” he interrupted, sticking his hand out. “I’m Peter. Peter Barrett. It’s so nice to meet you.”

  Peter? So original. The boy who never aged. Wonder where he got that from.

  She gave his hand an arch look and turned to me. “These books won’t read themselves.”

  “Got it.”

  “You know,” Peter started.

  “Can I talk to you a minute?” I asked tightly.

  “Go talk to yourself,” Peter retorted.

  I grabbed him by the back of the shirt and hauled him after me. He swore and tried to swat me away, missing me entirely.

  “What are you doing here?” I snapped when I felt we were far enough away that Caroline couldn’t hear us.

  He craned his head back towards Caroline, giving her a charming smile. I shook him a little bit, and he leveled a nasty glare at me.

  “What do you think I’m doing here?” he shot back. “I’m checking on your progress.”

  “And how did you find me? Not to mention how did you turn off the lights? The cuff is supposed to cut off your power.”

  I flicked the metal attached to his wrist for emphasis.

  He jerked his arm away from me. “I have my methods. I’m not entirely helpless with this damn thing on. You should remember that.”

  “I’m sure you won’t let me forget.”

  We glared at each other.

  “So, is your friend seeing anyone?”

  “We’re not talking about that,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. “She’s human and not part of this world. You’re going to leave her alone.”

  He gave her an assessing glance. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes.” I didn’t know what he was talking about, and I didn’t care. Caroline was off limits. “I’ve verified it was a draugr. It’s also responsible for the human disappearances around Hilltop. I think the reason the police haven’t found any bodies is that it’s been eating its victims.”

  “But not the supernatural ones?”

  “Not that I’ve been able to tell.”

  “Interesting.”

  My eyes sharpened. “How so?”

  “Draugrs are known for eating their victi
ms, but to my knowledge don’t usually distinguish between humans and those from our world. It should be eating all of its victims, not just some.”

  “I think it’s getting direction from someone.”

  He tilted his head in question.

  “It mentioned someone. I think it’s being guided towards its victims. That thing it’s looking for? I think someone has whatever it is and is now using it to somehow control where the draugr strikes next.”

  He bent his head in thought. It was so odd seeing a teenage face deep in reflection. I felt like he should start goofing off any moment now.

  “Why are you here then?” he asked.

  “Research. If I can figure out who he was in life, then I might be able to find some kind of weakness or at least discover what he wants.”

  His lip curled. “So you’re in a library?”

  “You know anybody in the city who can give me details of every prisoner held in Camp Chase? The draugr was human once. I figured my best chance of getting information on him lies with human records.”

  His face held a grudging respect when I’d finished my explanation. “Fair point.” He shot a glance back at the table. “It’s going to take you days to go through all those books.”

  I groaned internally. He was right. I’d been ambitious thinking it would only take one night. Even with Caroline’s pile of finished books, we had barely made a dent in the stacks we’d pulled. So far we’d discovered exactly nil.

  I slapped him on the back. “That’s why you’re going to help us.”

  He gave the books a distasteful look. “It would be so much easier if you took this cuff off. I could do a spell to call any books containing relevant information.”

  “You could do that?”

  That would be a pretty useful skill for any student or researcher. He could patent it and make millions.

  “Take this off, and you can find out.” He rattled the cuff at me.

  “I don’t think so. Trust between us pretty much doesn’t exist.”

  I headed back to the table, the sorcerer trailing behind me and muttering insults against me and my ancestors. And he wondered why I wasn’t willing to take a chance and release him. Some of those threats were creative and horrible enough that I was tempted to just shoot him and be done with all of it.